TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14840, 4 December 1913, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Hot water seems to be Germany's the favourite- element of Crown the German 'Crown Prince. Prince, whose differences

with his august father are reported . from time •to time in the papers. A personal sketch of the published in the* "Daily Mail" emphasises the fact that the Prince» and his father are not on the best of terms. "They are too much alike in disposition and temperament," explains this writer,----"to be close friends. The same -traits appear in both, with only this difference, that the .-younger is physically energetic, while the elder is mentally active. The one complains of the irksomeness of being the son of a clever father; tlie other; finding a too-impul-sive son a thorn in the flesh, is full of misgivings,* and is doing his best to put an old head on.young shoulders. This led to friction and disobedience." Even before his schooling began the Prince appears to have been a rebel. He used to steal away from his governess, and amuse himself walking out of and in at the palace gates, enjoying the fun of turning out the guard each time until the beating of drums brought his guardians after him. As a student at Bonn he was opposed to the University tradition of much beerdrinking. He argued that this was not good for a man. It was argued in return' that beer was a tradition, and what was more, a compulsory institution. The Prince then, threatened to leave the corps, and it was only his position which averted this serious result. At one time the idol of the nation, »the Crown Prince has contracted a fatal habit, of falling foul of one class after another. The Socialist Party he has permanently alienated, and his anti-English ebullitions and tbe recent attack on his brother-in-law have thrown him into the camp of the Pan-German party. Not without reason, the moderate section of -publio opinion, and those who oppose the views of the war party, dread the time when he will succeed to the throne. As a, sportsman, whether at hunting, polo, tennis, yachting, ice-hockey, aviation, or motoring, he has. shown himself a thorough enthusiast. When the Prince's parents tabooed horse-racing as a sport beneath the dignity of the Royal family, the rebel again asserted himself, and not long ago it leaked out that he rode one of bis horses at Hoppegarten, in spite of repeated warnings. As a result he was confined at bis palace as a punishment. These periods of "arrest" are said to be about the only time when the Prince may be relied npdn not to be getting -into fresh trouble. ,-R

In view* of the threatened Postal postal strike at Home, Figures, there is more interest than usual in the annual report of the Postmaster-General, which appears in the latest oapers to hand. How a strike would disturb business and social life may be judged from the following figures giving the total number of letters and other articles handled during the year:— Letters .. - 3,293.300,000 Postcards .. •• 899,000,000 Halfpenny packets .. I, < - I "'9.000,_00 New?papei» .. .. 202,300,000 Parcels •• •• 130,200,000 Total .. .. 5,608,800,000 The total of over three thousand million letters represents an average of 72 letters per head of population. Perhaps the most remarkable fact in the report is that in the course of the year 33,000,000 letters and packets were undelivered. The nunißer seems to throw doubts on the boasted ability of the Post Office to surmount difficulties in the way of obscure or insufficient addresses, but the Post puts most of the blame on the use of old directories and the carelessness of clerks who address circulars and advertisements. Of course there are absent-minded people who post unaddressed letters. No fewer than 408,000 packets of various kinds were found-unaddressed or loose. The figures for post-cards suggest that the picture-postcard craze is on the wane. There has been a falling off of 7.7 per cent, in this popular means of communication —the only one that shows a decline. The official theory is that this is due in the first place to a change in the public taste, and, secondly, to the increased use of the telephone, which shows a similar growth.